I once read a chapter from a book about investing. In it, the author Peter Lynch claimed that investors who say, âIt canât get any worseâ or âIt canât go any lowerâ are wrong.

Things can always get worse.

This is the lonely kernel of knowledge that I took away from that one single chapter, and the last two years have proven Mr Lynch right. Every time I thought I would land a paying project, I didnât. Terence sent out hundreds of resumes, had tens of interviews, and was still unemployed. While itâs possible for two people to live on less than $20k, I wouldnât recommend it.

So itâs really strange, just a few months into 2004, to be in the position of considering real estate, of actually qualifying for $300k mortgages, of living rent-free for 4 months while we search for a permanent place, of flying cross-country for a funeral without batting an eyelash, of debating whether or not to defer entrance to grad school while we pay off debt.

And now I learn that Terence has an inheritance.

Crazy, huh?

I will write about the funeral and family freaks a little later, but first I would like to leave you with this: on one of our flights, a ferret escaped from its cage, and the entire plane nearly went apeshit. Iâve never seen so many people get their feet on their seats so quickly.